DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Philippines, according to the IBON Foundation, remains trapped in an economic model that favors foreign capital over local industries, leaving millions poor as the Marcos administration prepares for another State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The group said decades of opening the economy to foreign interests have weakened agriculture and manufacturing while tax cuts under the CREATE Act (Republic Act No. 11534) and CREATE MORE Act (Republic Act No. 12066) cost the government P250 billion to P300 billion a year.
The CREATE Act and its enhancement, the CREATE MORE Act are laws that reform corporate taxation and investment incentives. They lower corporate income tax rates and offer tax breaks to registered businesses.
IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa said the money should instead fund industry, agriculture, education, health care and housing.
Africa added job figures hide the number of Filipinos stuck in informal work without contracts or benefits.
He urged the government to focus less on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), investment and income rankings and more on strengthening the local economy.
The group said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to tout macroeconomic gains on July 27, including the World Bank classifying the country’s upper middle-income status and continued growth.
But, Africa said the World Bank classification is not proof of development.
“That is not an achievement because it is not a measure of development. The World Bank created that category as a bank to set interest rates, amortization periods and grace periods for borrowing countries,” Africa said.
He said more than 80% of Filipinos remain in families earning only P5,000 to P20,000 a month, far from an upper middle-class standard of living.
He also said poverty persists because successive administrations have kept the same policies: reliance on foreign investment, economic liberalization and neglect of local farmers, fishers and small businesses.
He added, “whatever they argue about in politics — Marcos, Duterte or even the Yellows — they are fighting over power. They are not fighting over the solution to poverty and the backwardness of the economy.” (davaotoday.com)
